It's still technically Friday, for about a few more minutes. By this time, this blogger will be sound asleep and preparing for an early trip to LAX, to get on a jetplane back to anywhere that isn't E3. What do I have in my DS for the trip? A little bit of Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword. On my second playthrough, the game is still as fun as the first time.
Who cares about that, though. In all honesty, I'll probably get 5 minutes in before totally falling asleep in the tiny tin can. What about you all, though? After the craziness of E3, can you even manage to sit still long enough to play a game? I imagine you're all probably far too busy spinning in your chairs with glee.
If you've been waiting for Korg DS-10 to come out -- wait a little longer. In the meantime, we have the next best thing: a video of a badass Japanese dude rocking out with the portable synthesizer. This guy has a cool shirt, cool hair and an attitude of all-out righteousness. Unsurprisingly, he knows how to make Korg DS-10 really sing, especially since he's been hard at work before.
The less musically-inclined of us won't really have any clue how to use the thing, but we're sure all musos out there will know exactly how to configure an impressive array of blips and bloops into something worth listening to.
So ... huh? After sitting through the above four minutes of explosions, nuclear symbols and flashing lights, we have learned nothing about the upcoming Duke Nukem Trilogy for the DS. Quite frankly, this isnt the kind of trailer you want to show at E3, when countless other videos opt to show gameplay footage and new details. Also, four minutes long? Sure, there's a bit of metal rocking out there, but wouldn't we rather watch a music video instead of the words Critical Mass and Proving Grounds blasting all over the screen? You bet.
The rest of the Fanboy team thinks this irritable blogger is missing the joke of the (clearly satirical) trailer. They are probably right.
E3 is simultaneously the most chaotic and thrilling date in the gaming calendar, a relentless whirl of news, soundbites, speculation, and even megatons.
But how do you, as a reader, absorb it all? Are you the sort of individual who pores over livefeeds of conferences and refreshes the DS Fanboy page every ten minutes as the outside world ceases to exist? Or are you a more chilled consumer, the kind who likes to kick back and simply check up at the end of each day? Exactly how much do these gigantic, massively hyped industry events drag you in?
Posted Jul 16th 2008 10:30PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: News
Remember this khaki-clad British explorer, Hatsby? EA Tiburon's Kyle Gray introduced the character's charming sprite and his untitled puzzle/platforming DS game at GDC earlier this year, but we haven't seen or heard any news from him since! All we have had to go on all these months were the videos he left behind, which we've embedded past the break!
Artwork for the game has mysteriously popped up on the official site for Into the Pixel, an art exhibit collecting exemplary works of video game art and scheduled to open to the public at October's E for All Expo. The piece, titled "Puzzle World Twilight" and submitted by EA Tiburon concept artist Jay Epperson, shows Hatsby taking to the nighttime skies against a backdrop of Chinese paper cut outs.
Though we were already excited with the hybrid game's promises of an opera-singing boss, a robotic construct of Big Ben, and some unexplained touchscreen puzzle running alongside the platforming action, after seeing this gorgeous art, we can't contain ourselves! Tell us your secrets, Hatsby, you magnificent bastard!
Posted Jul 16th 2008 1:00PM by Phil Larsen
Filed under: News
If the DS Zelda team is helping out the Wii Zelda team, it could mean either of two things. One -- the next Wii Zelda is going to be beyond awesome. Two -- will the DS successor to Phantom Hourglass be neglected for longer than desired? It could cause longer development cycles, but the overall product will surely benefit from the extra talent.
Mitamoto explained that "the DS team is mixing in with the Wii team and working on the Wii version." Possible theory -- instead of a "realistic" Link for Wii and "cartoon" Link for DS, the two games might just be linked by more than just the name. All speculation, but speculation is fun!
Nintendo themselves would be the first to praise DS populairty with children and kindly elderly folk -- the polar opposite target markets for anything related to Grand Theft Auto. However, Cammie smiled that big smile of hers on stage at E3, spoke about Animal Crossing, Pokemon and Wii Music -- then casually slipped in the announcement of GTA: Chinatown Wars.
Does the DS have a place for GTA? Or, more accurately, should the DS have a place for GTA? With such a family-friendly system, are you at all surprised that Nintendo has opted to include such adult material?
The dual announcement of Kirby Super Star Ultra and Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir was a pleasant surprise, and after Kirby had a hot injection of goodies, the mysterious heirs decided they wanted a piece of the action too. Hey when in Rome -- or in this case, E3.
The trailer is suitable atmospheric, ensuring you won't feel left out of the ... mystery. It demonstrates a number of standard jigsaw and tile puzzles, along with a bit of pixel clue hunting. For a Mystery Case Files experience with less movement but more detail, check out the new round of screens in the gallery below.
After perusing the updated Nintendo release list, it seems MillionHeir is still right on target for the original September 8th launch. Hooray and success for all -- we know that the DS handles adventure games extremely well.
Kirby Super Star Ultra is getting a hefty overhaul from the original SNES title, and the pink blob is right in the spotlight with an absolute metric tonne of new media. The above trailer shows all the colorful action right on the DS screens, while the gallery below has a whole range of new screens and character art -- not to mention the snazzy box art.
Finally, 'tis the season for release dates (you may have notice the whole E3 thing): Kirby Super Star Ultra will be hitting the stores on September 22nd. About damn time, too -- fans have been waiting too long after the brilliance of Canvas Curse.
Posted Jul 15th 2008 12:44PM by Phil Larsen
Filed under: News
And ... snap. Since the oft-panned Grand Theft Auto on the GBA, we have waited for another handheld installment. We have it now, with GTA: Chinatown Wars, coming this winter on DS.
The game will feature a brand new engine (hopefully ditching the top-down view) and will take place in Liberty City -- the flagship location of the GTA series. If you played GTAIII and IV, you will have trekked through Chinatown (the awesomest place ever), and more of the high-fighting action in Chinatown Wars will be fantastic. Coming this winter, like, a few months away!
As much as we liked to question the philosophical and political ramifications of the Sims 2: Apartment Petsboxart (hey, we take our jobs seriously), we couldn't immediately condemn this latest trailer for abusing the high standards of Fanboy beliefs. Why? Because it's too damn tiny. Fair enough, E3 might not be a bastion of high quality media at all times, but come on. We love pets and apartments, so give us the goods!
In any case, squint at the above video for admittedly pretty footage of Apartment Pets, and hope that it might turn out to be better than sucky.
Posted Jul 15th 2008 1:30AM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: News
Kids, don't forget to set your alarms for Nintendo's E3 press conference in the morning -- 9:00 AM PDT! Though the Star Fox hero will likely miss the event, there is sure to be at least one or two Nintendo DS minitons, if not megatons.
Of course, we'll cover the conference and let you know if Nintendo announces a hardware upgrade, Metroid Dread, or any other rumored items that have made the rounds! And if the conference turns out to be a bust, at least we have this cute photo of a sleeping Fox McCloud.
Tuesday can't get here soon enough. There are so many possibilities for Nintendo's big event at E3 that it was difficult to compile them all into a neat little list, and that's without even considering the rest of the show! Even so, some things are predictable, and we've taken a peek at our trusty magic 8-ball and prepared a play-along bingo card for keeping track of all of the awesome Tuesday will bring.
Click each square above to read more about what we think we will -- and won't -- see at this year's Nintendo conference, or, if you're feeling expansive, check out our full predictions for the show as a whole. We're barely scratching the surface, and there's tons we're not talking about -- like Disgaea, the next Cooking Mama game, Kirby, and Fire Emblem. But we are laying out some pretty bold statements for this year's E3. Don't forget to check out the full version of our Wii predictions, too, and print out the card to play along at home.
Nintendo's conference begins Tuesday, July 15, at 9:00am PT / 12:00 pm ET. Don't miss the full schedule (so far) of E3 briefings, as well as the other bingo cards from around the network.
Well, for those of you anxious to read about another handheld Tony Hawk game or ... something else from Activision, we're sad to report that they won't be at E3 this year. They've gone ahead and bailed out of the show.
"After careful consideration, for business reasons Activision has decided not to participate in any official E3 activities. We wish the ESA best of luck with the show." Could it be that they're not on board with the event because, well, it's gone downhill ever since they changed the set-up? Or, does the #1 company in the game industry see no need to participate in an event such as this?
One of the big storieswe've beenfollowing here at DS Fanboy is the rumor of us seeing a new DS at this year's E3. Whether it just be a more slim and sleek version of the DS Lite, or a complete redesign, we're hopeful that Nintendo will provide us with a more appealing handheld to plunk money down on this summer.
What do you all think, though? What are the odds that we could see a new DS from Nintendo at this year's show? Do you find it highly likely, or are we just getting our hopes up for no reason?
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E3 is simultaneously the most chaotic and thrilling date in the gaming calendar, a relentless whirl of news, soundbites, speculation, and even megatons.
If the DS Zelda team is helping out the Wii Zelda team, it could mean either of two things. One -- the next Wii Zelda is going to be beyond awesome. Two -- will the DS successor to Phantom Hourglass be neglected for longer than desired? It could cause longer development cycles, but the overall product will surely benefit from the extra talent.
Nintendo themselves would be the first to praise DS populairty with children and kindly elderly folk -- the polar opposite target markets for anything related to Grand Theft Auto. However, Cammie smiled that big smile of hers on stage at E3, spoke about Animal Crossing, Pokemon and Wii Music -- then casually slipped in the announcement of GTA: Chinatown Wars.
And ... snap. Since the oft-panned Grand Theft Auto on the GBA, we have waited for another handheld installment. We have it now, with GTA: Chinatown Wars, coming this winter on DS.
One of the big stories we've been following here at DS Fanboy is the rumor of us seeing a new DS at this year's E3. Whether it just be a more slim and sleek version of the DS Lite, or a complete redesign, we're hopeful that Nintendo will provide us with a more appealing handheld to plunk money down on this summer.
